Snapshot
by grapefritters
Summary: A part of her knew that nights like these would happen when she allowed Puck to talk her into letting Finn stay with them. / Puck/Rachel, Finn


_Snapshot_

Puck/Rachel/Finn friendship, Puck/Rachel

**A/N:** Written in response to **cheapen**'s prompt at the PR drabble meme: _Puck, Rachel and Finn drunk in a photo booth in New York._

* * *

A part of her knew that nights like these would happen when she allowed Puck to talk her into letting Finn stay with them. Their tiny, one room apartment is barely big enough for them most of the time, but with Finn sleeping on the couch for the past two months, getting out is a big part of their lives.

She's finally starting to see her Broadway dreams come true after three years in New York, so she's ecstatic (and a little cautious) when the boys decide they need a celebratory night out. Normal nights involve take-out or a bar/arcade until early in the morning and not much else, but she lets herself believe that maybe this time will be different. This time she won't be judging the terrible performers at karaoke while Puck and Finn challenge each other to who can eat the most hot wings in 10 minutes. (Winner gets more paid for by the loser.)

So, she dresses up slightly more than her usual high school-esque skirt and cardigan because maybe they'll take her to a _restaurant _for once_. _She hasn't stepped foot instead a restaurant or cafe other than the coffee shop a few blocks from their apartment in over a month. She hasn't been on a _date_ in over a month. Finn is wonderful, he's one of her four favorite men, but sometimes she wishes that he could find himself someone to spend the night with so she and Puck could have a night alone.

Rachel's not one to drink in excess and she's pretty good at making sure she stops once she begins to feel the effects of the alcohol. On this particular evening, however, with her 'celebratory night out' turning into just another night out, a few extra drinks aren't going to hurt anything. She has her boys there to protect her anyway, even if they're drinking more than usual themselves.

If they'll stop stuffing mozzarella sticks into their mouths.

She turns from watching a sub-par duet of "Killing Me Softly" to see if perhaps her boyfriend or best friend would like to join her and show these people how well they can out perform them, but they're not paying attention. This was her night out, for being on her way to becoming a Broadway star, and this is what she gets.

Annoyed, she finishes her drink and places the empty glass on the bar before standing up and stopping behind Puck and Finn's stools on her way to the stage.

"If you care about my safety at all, I'll be putting everyone in this bar to shame."

Puck looks her over for signs of drunkenness and places a hand on her hip to steady her when she starts to sway a little too much on her heels, and Finn nods dumbly at her words. She stares at him for a moment as he brings another mozzarella stick to his mouth. When Finn bites into the fried cheese, she huffs before pulling away from Puck and turning quickly, head held high, to continue her way to the stage. She doesn't need them; she can have her own fun.

=/=

It takes half an hour and eight karaoke performances for Rachel to realize that she's tired of waiting for her name to be called and she's just so _angry _that this is how her celebration has ended up. She just wants to leave the bar, go home, and ignore both Puck and Finn for the rest of the weekend. They can fight over the couch.

She can see the confusion on Finn's face as she approaches the bar again and stands behind him and Puck.

"I've decided that the wait for karaoke is ridiculously long considering how flawed all of these performances are, so I'll leave you two to your artery clogging bar food and boy time. I'm clearly not wanted here."

She steps between their stools to retrieve her clutch off of the bar when Puck snags her around the waist and pulls her back to sit on his lap. For a moment she thinks about elbowing him in the stomach or struggling in some way, but there's no use. He does this every time he realizes that he's being a jerk and actually feels bad about it. He drops a kiss to her exposed neck and murmurs a quick "Sorry, baby" into her ear, and she knows that in ten minutes she won't be able to continue being angry at him.

Rachel's aware that this kind of forgiving can make her seem like a pushover, as Santana and Brittany have been very adamant about telling her ("Make him work for it, Berry. Don't you want a pretty ring?"), but he's the same way with her. Most of the time. Thirty minutes ago she was certain he would be fighting with Finn over the couch, and Puck is no amateur at giving or receiving the cold shoulder.

"I'm sorry, too," Finn says loudly from beside them, and Rachel turns slightly in Puck's lap in time to see him shrug. It's his cute, Finn way of apologizing when he either doesn't know or doesn't understand what he's done.

"This was supposed to be my celebration, Finn," she says exasperatedly with a roll of her eyes, and she can feel Puck's silent chuckle through his chest as she explains the situation. "I thought the three of us would have dinner or go _out_ somewhere, maybe somewhere that isn't the same place we come every weekend. I just wanted it to be special."

Finn nods a little and looks over at Puck for a second, who then taps her lightly on the side and begins to stand up from his stool.

"Alright, Broadway. We get it, we're assholes." Rachel hops off of his lap and lets Finn settle an arm around her shoulders as they move her away from the bar. "It's too late to get a reservation for dinner." Puck pauses to look at his watch. "And it's like 1 anyway. I know you don't like eating after 7:30."

She's not sure what they're doing, but Puck and Finn have this ability to communicate telepathically, much like she and Puck can when Finn is being more, well, Finn than usual and needs to be stopped. Before she can ask, they're stopping in front of a skee-ball table and inserting coins she didn't know they had.

"This isn't what I meant by I wanted to leave." She glares at both men and crosses her arm across her chest, but they ignore her and begin playing. They're very good at this, and the thing is she knows what they're doing. They do it all the time. Any time she gets upset and it's something they (Puck) consider to be irrational, they go about their business until she relents and joins them.

She already knows it's going to work as they both finish their first round of the game and insert coins for another. Then Puck hands her a ball and places his hands on her shoulders to move her in front of him, gently cupping her elbow to show her where to aim.

She doesn't push him away despite having played this game before, numerous times, with him and Finn.

=/=

After an hour and ten minutes Rachel has completely forgiven them for beginning the night by ignoring her. They've played a majority of the games that have the shortest lines (Rachel's only interested in waiting for Broadway shows and auditions), and it really has turned out to be an enjoyable night out. Considering it's closing in on 3 o'clock, though, means that they all need to get back to the apartment and get as much sleep as possible before they need to be up again.

They're nearing the door when Rachel looks over to her right and notices a row of photo booths she can't remember seeing at any time during the night. Rachel _loves_ photographs. She has at least five photo boxes in their closet at home, not to mention numerous photo albums and a small scrapbook for every important event in her life (glee club competitions, prom, Halloween, Hannukah, and one for mini-celebrations and random nights out).

"We need a souvenir! I completely forgot to take pictures."

"You and your freaking scrapbooks," Puck mutters, but he grabs her hand and starts in the direction of the machines. Finn hums in agreement as he follows, and Rachel shoots him a glare over her shoulder as they stop in front of the only photo booth that isn't occupied. Out of the five this bar has, the one that's currently available is perfect.

Photographs replicating film strips or bordered with a theater curtain - exactly wonderful for the occasion and city. She's personally not one for novelty frames (she would be much more interested in a simple four-picture strip), but Rachel decides that it's all that they have and it's just too fitting to pass up.

She lets Puck drag her into the booth and sit her down on one of his legs before he pulls a five-dollar bill out of her clutch.

"Okay, Hudson, close the curtain," he orders as he inserts the bill and presses the 'start' button.

"No, no. Finn needs to be in here, too." Rachel scoots so she's on top of both of Puck's legs and reaches a hand toward Finn, who looks at them and shrugs before letting her pull him into the booth. She begins giggling once Finn shuts the curtain and tries to situate himself onto the hard plastic seat. Maybe she had a bit more to drink than usual.

She chooses the obvious frame, theatre curtains, and tells the boys to smile as they take their first photograph. Judging by Puck patting her thigh as the light flashes and Finn's laugh, she knows that this night hasn't been _too_ bad. They (Puck) wouldn't have been involved in these "lame photo booth, shitty pictures" unless it was a special occasion.

With that in mind, she decides to take a couple more photos and inserts the money for multiples and chooses her number. On a day-to-day basis she would never pay to have her picture taken in a small booth with bright lighting, but she has had a pretty great night, once it really got started, and it's nice to have a few things to remember it by.

They take another picture with Rachel leaning back slightly to kiss Puck's cheek, which somehow gives Finn the idea to kiss _her _cheek. She laughs as Puck attempts to kick his friend from the opposite side of the booth, but Rachel can feel that he's smiling a little under her lips. She kisses him once on the lips before pulling back and pushing Finn back into his original place.

"I swear I'll take you somewhere this weekend," Puck says between flashes two and three.

Rachel leans her head onto his shoulder and smiles up at him sleepily, but nods. "You don't have to, but I wouldn't mind a night together. It's been a while."

"Yo, Hudson, you're gonna stay at Brittany and San's place this weekend."

"What? Brittany? What? I don't know what you're talking about."

Puck takes one look at Finn's shocked face and begins laughing as the third picture is taken. "Shit, I had no idea," he says as his laughs quiet down, and Rachel turns to Finn . "Makes complete sense, though."

She really shouldn't be surprised. Finn and Brittany have been surprisingly close since he broke up with Quinn officially after their first year of college. Brittany and Santana's relationship is certainly an interesting arrangement, so Rachel's not exactly sure how that will work out (and she wants no details), but Finn and Brittany's friendship has been something growing over the years.

"I'm really happy for you, Finn." They smile at each other for a moment as Puck mumbles "girls" under his breath, and the fourth picture is taken. "Two more," she says and directs both Puck and Finn's attention to the screen in front of them for their fifth and sixth pictures. The last is probably the best out of the bunch since they're all smiling and Finn looks as excited as she's ever seen him.

They exit the booth to get the pictures from the outside printer and make their way to the door. "Oh, we can go on a double date!" Rachel claps her hands together when they walk out into the night air and Puck wraps his arms around her and directs her down the sidewalk.

"Let's deal with our date first, Rach," Puck starts, but stops talking to think for a moment before continuing. "You know, Finn, we're gonna pass San and Brit's. Maybe you want to pop in and say hey or something?"

Rachel giggles into his neck at his terrible attempt to get a night alone, even though they both have work soon, but Finn begins nodding like it's a good idea so she stops. It will be nice to finally have a night in with just her boyfriend, even if it's only for a few hours.

Ten minutes later they're watching Finn nervously (but adorably) ambling up the steps of Brittany and Santana's apartment building before continuing on their way to their own.

"Does this night mean I don't get that date?" She smiles over at Puck who at first nods, as if he's going to take that out, but then glances at her face and shakes his head.

"No way, baby. We have to celebrate this the right way. The whole nine."

"Oh, we're not going to celebrate tonight?" She pokes him in the side and laughs as pulls her closer.

"We're definitely celebrating tonight. Fuck wake up calls."

"It has been a while since we've been alone, hasn't it?" She sighs as she asks, but it's not that she doesn't love Finn. It's just that sometimes it's nice to have _your_ apartment to yourself. Puck laughs dryly, but she knows that he feels the same way, in his own _guy _way.

That idea lingers in the air for a few moments before Puck lets his arm fall from her shoulders and grabs her hand before speeding up his walking just slightly to get home sooner. It _has_ been a while, and they have to make the most of their night before Finn comes back. Who knows how long it will be until their next night together.

When they make it into their apartment, a few articles of clothing strewn across the living room floor, Rachel stops briefly to place one photo on the refrigerator: Rachel's head is on Puck's shoulder, her eyes half-closed, with a small contented expression on her face, with Finn smiling in the corner and Puck laughing after discovering Finn's secret relationship. She's aware that most of the pictures around the apartment are of the _three_ of them, but they're a sort of family, and, interrupted nights or not, that can last a little while longer.


End file.
